The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-03-04
A DAMP INTERVIEW.
How q Woman Reporter Compelled John
Quincy Adams to Talk.

How q Woman Reporter Compelled John
Quincy Adams to Talk.
AS a boy, being fond of bathing in
the Potomac, I frequently resorted
thither at early hours of summer morn
ings. The favorite point for such en-
joyment was at ''the sycamores, I" So
called because 8 group of those trees
stood on a certain part of the shore.
The location was in the immediate vi
cinity of the present Washington monu-
ment. There I hadss sometimes the
honor Of attempting to rival the natory
skill of John Quincy Adams. 1t was
his costume to seek the refreshment OF
the River of Swans-Pow-towma
the dewey hours of four or five o'clock
in the morning. Ny young compan-
Ions land I encircled him as minnows
may swim about a whale, but with no
fear, Tor among children he was as q
child.
A strange incident occurred there
one day. Mrs. Anne Royal, stout,
aged and eccentric widow of a revolu-
tiOnary soldier, had come to Washing.
ton some time before and undertaken
the publication of a weekly paper en-
titled the H5tntTeSs, in size little be-
yond sheet of foolscap, blurred print,
and more typographical errors than
lines. Biographical accounts of gen.
tlemen of the Cabinet and of Congress
were its main features, with notices,
too, of distinguished ladies of the me-
tropolis. If the elite furnished her, on
her call, with the proper data and prop
9r pay, their lives were made glorious
IN the next number of the unique Jour
nal, and they were also presented as
angels, either masculine or feminine;
putt her visit, as did happen now and
hen, met with refusal, the imag-
native editor would invent Won
derful circumstances and attrib-
ute them to such personages.
These, in publication, startled, and
even terrified the subjects thereof and
all their society friends So it became
necessary to buy off the vengeful
madam and to obtain from her a pleas
ant report. Cases of fancy were often
more profitable to the royal treasury
than those which were authentic. So
severe and denunciatOry was the edi-
torial tone of this Saturday visitor that
it soon created dread in all quarters, and
few were brave enough to provoke her
wrath by declining the application of
the proprietor. The demand granted,
the consequent Iaudation proved
scarcely more acceptable, being extrav-
agant to absurdity, and read with gem
eral laughter.
No paper of the period in Washing
ton, not even the stately and venerable
National I1teJIjgencer, could compare
in extent of local subscription with the
list of 1.-The Huntress." The active
and resolute madam would have it, and
made it so, by going from house to
house, Office to Office, stores, depart
ments of the Government, in a word
everywhere. The enterprising widow
had long sought an opportunity to
pay her respects to Hon, John Quincy,
but somehow-perhaps John Quincy
knew-fate failed to favor her. She
CHANGED to learn the early summer
morning practice of his late Excel
lency, and the very next day repaired
to the river and the sycamores. There
he was, serenely dispOrting. She looked
on with self-cOngratulation. The swim,
mer approached the shore at last,
nearer and nearer, until he observed
her ladyship in waiting, then, the
stream admitting, stood, head and neck
exposed above the surface. Thus
situated, prisoner, she addressed him,
introduced herself, and held sufficient
talk to furnish subject for a fine article
The following Hlaatress, which accom-
plished, she retired, and once more all
was ''quiet on the Potomac. "-SeGtOn
Donoho, IN Brooklyn Magazine.